Online Extras

OTTERS WATCHBelleville Bulls (2-6-1-1) at Erie Otters (7-2-1-0)- When: Today, 7 p.m.- Where: Erie Insurance Arena- On the air: WFNN-AM/1330, www.ottershockey.com (live stream)- What to watch: The Otters have won five straight games overall and three in a row at home, their longest streaks since the 2010-11 club finished the regular season with eight consecutive wins and five straight at home. ... The Otters (15 points) entered Thursday's games tied for first with London in the Western Conference. ... RW Connor Brown (9 goals, 13 assists, 22 points) and LW Dane Fox (9-9-18) entered Thursday ranked first and third, respectively, on the OHL scoring list. ... Oscar Dansk has a personal shutout streak of 137 minutes, 53 seconds after posting shutouts in his past two starts. His impressive stretch stands third in franchise history behind Adam Munro (234:36 in March 2001) and Adam Courchaine (144:15 in February 2010). ... C Connor McDavid (4-11-15) and LW Andre Burakovsky (6-6-12) also rank among the top 20 in points. The Otters are the only team with four players in the top 20. ... The league's leading power play (33.3 percent) has scored goals in all 10 games. ... C Kyle Pettit (lower-body injury) won't play this weekend. LW/D Travis Wood is expected to replace him on the fourth line. ... Belleville is last in the Eastern Conference and is only percentage points ahead of Sarnia for the league's worst record. ... They have been outscored 42-26 this season. ... The Otters face 2013 No. 1 pick Travis Konecny and the 67's (5-5-0-0) Saturday. Konecny is tied for the league lead in rookie scoring with 10 points.-- Victor Fernandes- More online: Veteran forwards Nick Betz and Joel Wigle have overcome injuries and started the season strong. Find out why on the Shootout blog and Twitter.

The Erie Otters' transformation on defense began with a change in mindset.

Before they could play better defense, they had to believe in playing better defense.

Then, in just 10 games, a team that allowed an OHL-worst 650 goals and was regularly overwhelmed with shots the past two seasons has grown into one of the league's stingiest units at 2.9 goals per game and 28.9 shots on goal per game.

Now that they play better defense, veteran defenseman Adam Pelech said, "We feel like we can shut down any team in the league. We have that positive attitude going into games, and it's helping us a lot."

The change began with accepting greaterresponsibility on the defensive end during training camp and the preseason.

"We really emphasized playing a good defensive game," Pelech said. "We've been working a lot on that ... and setting goals toward that during the season."

Since then, the defense has made fewer errant passes and more simple, yet effective plays.

A group of forwards better known for scoring 44 goals, which is tied for second most in the league, and headlining a power play that leads the league at 33.3 percent has supported the defense by being reliable in the Otters' zone.

Meanwhile, Oscar Dansk has been strong behind them -- and unbeatable during shutouts in his past two outings -- on the way to being one of the league's best goaltenders.

"It's easy to play when the guys are playing like they are in front of me," Dansk said. "It's fun to play when everyone is doing well."

The Otters haven't been perfect on defense. Windsor scored eight goals on 34 shots on Sept. 28 in their last loss, and Owen Sound rallied from two goals down in the third period on Oct. 9.

"But that part of our game is a lot better," said head coach Kris Knoblauch, who pointed to his unit being older and more mature as well as the additions of rookie Travis Dermott and veteran Cory Genovese but added that, "The biggest thing is our team has bought into playing better defense."

The Otters enter this weekend's games against Belleville and Ottawa at Erie Insurance Arena with their top six defensemen on the ice. Troy Donnay has been cleared to play after missing the past two games with an upper-body injury. Genovese rejoins the lineup after serving a five-game, league-imposed suspension.

But the Otters have won five straight games and posted a 7-2-1-0 record because six players play solid defense together.

"Everyone is just doing their jobs. That's the bottom line," Donnay said. "The forwards are getting back. The (defensemen) are playing strong 'D,' and the goaltenders are playing unreal hockey right now."

Now, the Otters have to keep playing that way.

"Everything is going well right now," Pelech said, "and, hopefully, we can keep it up."

Online Extras

OTTERS WATCHBelleville Bulls (2-6-1-1) at Erie Otters (7-2-1-0)- When: Today, 7 p.m.- Where: Erie Insurance Arena- On the air: WFNN-AM/1330, www.ottershockey.com (live stream)- What to watch: The Otters have won five straight games overall and three in a row at home, their longest streaks since the 2010-11 club finished the regular season with eight consecutive wins and five straight at home. ... The Otters (15 points) entered Thursday's games tied for first with London in the Western Conference. ... RW Connor Brown (9 goals, 13 assists, 22 points) and LW Dane Fox (9-9-18) entered Thursday ranked first and third, respectively, on the OHL scoring list. ... Oscar Dansk has a personal shutout streak of 137 minutes, 53 seconds after posting shutouts in his past two starts. His impressive stretch stands third in franchise history behind Adam Munro (234:36 in March 2001) and Adam Courchaine (144:15 in February 2010). ... C Connor McDavid (4-11-15) and LW Andre Burakovsky (6-6-12) also rank among the top 20 in points. The Otters are the only team with four players in the top 20. ... The league's leading power play (33.3 percent) has scored goals in all 10 games. ... C Kyle Pettit (lower-body injury) won't play this weekend. LW/D Travis Wood is expected to replace him on the fourth line. ... Belleville is last in the Eastern Conference and is only percentage points ahead of Sarnia for the league's worst record. ... They have been outscored 42-26 this season. ... The Otters face 2013 No. 1 pick Travis Konecny and the 67's (5-5-0-0) Saturday. Konecny is tied for the league lead in rookie scoring with 10 points.-- Victor Fernandes- More online: Veteran forwards Nick Betz and Joel Wigle have overcome injuries and started the season strong. Find out why on the Shootout blog and Twitter.